Guantánamo’s 23rd Anniversary: Freedom, Vigils and Photos
Campaigners calling for the closure of the prison at Guantánamo Bay outside the U.S. Congress on January 11, 2021, the 19th anniversary of the opening of the prison. (Photo: Alli McCracken for Amnesty International U.S.).
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By Andy Worthington, January 8, 2025
This Saturday, January 11, the prison at Guantánamo Bay will have been open for 23 years, and, as usual, since we began our work on January 11, 2012 (which was the tenth anniversary of the prison’s opening), we’ll be engaged in events designed to shine a light on the continuing injustice of the prison’s existence.
Just a month ago, 30 men were still held at Guantánamo, but, as a result of concerted action behind the scenes, half of them have now been released, leaving just 15 men still languishing in a facility that should never have been opened in the first place.
The releases began last month, with the repatriation of a Kenyan and a Tunisian (two of 16 men still held who had long been approved for release), as well as two Malaysians who had agreed to plea deals in their military commission trial, and culminated, just two days ago, with the extraordinarily welcome news that eleven Yemenis, also long approved for release, but unable to be repatriated because of U.S. law, had been resettled in Oman. I wrote about the release of these men in an article on my website, Wonderful News as Eleven Men Are Freed from Guantánamo and Resettled in Oman, and I hope you have time to read it, as it is a more illuminating explanation of who these men are, and the long and tortuous road to their freedom, than you will find in any mainstream media reports.
We had actually been campaigning for the release of these men for the last two years. I told their stories in a series of ten articles between February and April last year, and, every month, I updated a poster showing how long they had been held since being approved for release. I persistently promoted the posters as part of the global coordinated monthly vigils for the closure of Guantánamo (the "First Wednesday" vigils), which I initiated in February 2023, and which now regularly take place in ten locations across the U.S. and around the world.
Our efforts undoubtedly contributed to raising awareness of the plight of these men, although the main driver of their return to freedom was Tina Kaidanow, a former ambassador appointed, by President Biden, as the Special Representative for Guantánamo Affairs in August 2021, who was "responsible for all matters pertaining to the transfer of detainees from the Guantánamo Bay facility to third countries," and who persevered in her task, even after the Oman deal was cynically scuppered in October 2023. Sadly, Ms. Kaidanow passed away just three months ago, but it is a tribute to her tenacity that these releases took place.
Of the 15 men still held, three have also long been approved for release, while three others are "forever prisoners" (never charged, but not approved for release either), with the other nine caught up, to varying degrees, in the broken military commission trial system. You can see their stories here, via our definitive prisoner list, which I’ve just updated.
In the dying days of the Biden administration, before Donald Trump once more occupies the White House, no doubt sealing Guantánamo shut as he did during his first term in office, we’ll continue to call for, at the very least, the release of the last three of the 16 men long approved for release.
Our actions begin tomorrow, Thursday, January 9, which marks 8,400 days since the prison opened, and, as we’ve been doing every 100 days for the last seven years, we’re encouraging people across the U.S. and around the world to show their solidarity with the men still held by taking a photo with our poster marking this grim milestone, and calling for the prison’s closure, hosted on our Gitmo Clock website, which counts in real time how long Guantánamo has been open.
The poster is here, and please send your photo here. If you don’t have a printer, you can bring up the poster on a phone, or on a tablet or laptop, and get someone else to take a photo with their phone.
Normally, I would also produce a separate poster marking the number of days that Guantánamo has been open on the anniversary of its opening, but this year, because the anniversary falls just two days after 8,400 days, I’m encouraging everyone marking the anniversary on January 11 to print off the 8,400 days poster and to use that. After 8,400 days, two days really make very little difference at all.
In addition, if you’re seeking some inspiration, please check out the photos from last year, available here and here, which provide a heartwarming antidote to the amnesia or indifference that normally envelops Guantánamo, showing that U.S. citizens, in particular, care about what is being done in their name, even though it is rarely, if ever spoken about.
On the anniversary itself, a number of vigils are taking place, mostly involving groups who have been taking part in the "First Wednesday" vigils. but also including other groups who come together once a year to highlight the anniversary. We hope you can join us — and if there isn’t a vigil near you, please consider holding one of your own, but don’t forget to take photos and send them to us.
Close Guantánamo January 11 vigils
Cobleskill, NY, 11am-noon ET
Corner of Main and Union Street.
Contact: Sue Spivack.
Detroit, MI, 11-11.30am ET
McNamara Federal Building, 477 Michigan Avenue.
Contact: Geraldine Grunow.
London, 12-3pm GMT
March and rally, from Old Palace Yard to Trafalgar Square, with speakers including Close Guantánamo co-founder Andy Worthington, followed by the delivery of a letter to 10 Downing Street.
Contact: Sara Birch on 07710 789616.
Los Angeles, CA, 12-1.30pm PT UPDATE: POSTPONED DUE TO THE WILDFIRES
Wilshire/Westwood Federal Building, 11000 Wilshire Blvd., with speakers.
Contact: Interfaith Communities United for Justice and Peace
New York, NY, 1-2pm ET
Steps of the NY Public Library, 5th Ave & 42nd St., with speakers. See the Facebook page here.
Contact: Debra Sweet.
Portland, OR, 4.30-6pm PT
Terry Schrunk Plaza, 431 SW Madison St.
Contact: Dan Shea on 503-750-7649.
San Francisco, CA, 3-4pm PT
50 United Nations Plaza (at the Simon Bolivar statue).
Contact: Gavrilah Wells.
Washington, D.C., Noon-1pm ET
In front of the White House on Pennsylvania Ave., with singing.
Contact: Steve Lane on 571- 221-4120
Other dates
Thursday January 16
Brussels, Belgium, 5pm
Outside the European Parliament.
Contact: Luk Vervaet.
Other vigils are also taking place, via groups that aren’t part of the regular monthly vigils, as follows:
Saturday January 11
Greenfield, MA, Noon
Speakers at the Town Common followed by a march up and down Main Street.
Contact: Nancy Talanian.
Saturday January 11
Augusta, ME, 1-2pm ET
Augusta National Armory, intersection of Route 202 and Armory St., with speakers. More info here.
Contact: Mary Kate Small.
Monday January 13
Cleveland, OH, 1:45-3pm ET
Federal Building at E 9th & Lakeside, with a walking meditation while J.D. Vance is visiting.
Monday January 13
Toledo, OH, 4-5pm ET
NE corner of Talmadge Rd. and Monroe St.
Other events
Saturday January 11, 6pm GMT
CAGE International is holding an online event, "Guantánamo: Survivors speak," featuring former prisoners Mansoor Adayfi, Sufyian Barhoumi, Moazzam Begg, Omar Khadr and Abdellatif Nasser. Register here.
Tuesday January 14, Noon-1pm ET
"Guantánamo at 23": New America panel discussion with Close Guantánamo co-founders Tom Wilner and Andy Worthington, and Karen Greenberg. Register here.
Wednesday January 15, 1-2.30pm ET
"Migrants and Muslims at Guantánamo: A history of demonization, social control and resistance," tracing the legacy of detention and brutality, starting with Haitians, then Muslim men, and now fleeing migrants, with speakers including Mansoor Adayfi and Dr. Maha Hilal. Register here.
Witness Against Torture is also holding a Zoom circle:
Saturday January 11, 8pm ET
Join on Zoom "for poetry and a sharing circle to celebrate the joys of our work together and to prepare for what lies ahead."
Please feel free to contact the White House to call for the last three men approved for release to be freed, and, if you want to help those who have been released from Guantánamo, only to find themselves abandoned by the U.S. and struggling to rebuild their lives, often because of indifference or even hostility from their home governments or from their host governments if they were released in third countries, please consider making a donation to the Guantánamo Survivors Fund, which provides support for their most urgent needs, including medical care, rent, language classes, tuition and job training.
